Fresh Juice

We recently retired our old juicer and purchased a very affordable "Power Juicer Express" from Bed Bath & Beyond - I have to say that I love our new juicer and it has been getting a lot of use!  This machine is quiet, and makes a very smooth juice and leaves behind a very dry pulp, so it's getting the most our of our fruits and veggies.  We first started juicing over a year ago when our city first introduced a Farmer's Market, we stay up to date on food news and had recently watched a documentary of the health benefits of juicing

titled "Fat Sick and nearly Dead" needless to say, we took advantage of the fresh produce in our area and began scouting fresh raw  - pesticide free - fruits and veggies.  I took a juice challenge and lost a total of 20 lbs in 3 weeks by adding fresh juices to my diet, since then I have maintained the weight loss, and juice at least once a day in place of a meal or make it part of a complete and healthy meal.

We have our favorite juices and I will share a couple of my recipes.  The juice shown is one of my favorite combinations, Carrot/Beet/Melon juice: 

4 large organic carrots, 1 cup of fresh melon, a small piece of fresh ginger, and 1 fresh beet

another one of my favorites is Cucumber, Green Apple, basil and Kale:

2 cups of organic kale, 1 cucumber, 1 green apple, and mint or basil to taste.

You can google juice recipes and find your own favorites - using fresh local ingredients is a bigger health benefit plus you're supporting local growers and farmers creating a sustainable diet.

Eggplant Parm Pizza

This might look sinful, and it might be, however it's meatless and I use very little cheese plus a whole grain wheat crust.

I call this eggplant parm pizza because it's everything you would find on a plate of eggplant parm sandwich, but in pizza form.

Recipe is easy as follows

• enough raw dough for 1 pizza, or premade crust
• tomato sauce (jarred or make your own) I made my own using crushed tomatoes, garlic, butter, onion, and basil
• cheese
• bread crumbs
• eggplant and mushrooms
• olive oil

For the dough: I purchased raw whole grain olive oil dough and stretched it out then placed it on a baking sheet and baked half way through

For the eggplant: I then cleaned, peeled and sliced the eggplant into circles - I soaked the eggplant in milk, salt and pepper to taste.  Place bread crumbs on a platter and season with salt, pepper, parm cheese and garlic powder, roll the eggplant in the bread crumb mixture and shallow fry them in a pan of heated olive oil.  When eggplant is ready, place on paper towel to drain.

For the sauce:  In a pot sautee garlic, a pound of finely chopped mushrooms and onion in olive oil and butter until soft, add crushed tomatoes and basil

Pizza: flip the crust over, add tomato sauce (I use about 2 cups), then add cheese and bake for a remainder of about 10 minutes until cheese bubbles, take out and add the fried eggplant, parm cheese and bake for a few more minutes.

done and delish!  Eat with a salad!

Easy Stir Fry

Easy stir fry

Hard days call for simple meals.  Choose an array of fresh veggies and toss in olive oil, then stir fry on high heat for 3 minutes until tender.  I added fresh ginger, garlic and soy sauce and served with steamed rice.

Roasted Calabaza and Elote with Mexican herb rice

Roasted Calabaza and Elote with Mexican herb rice

Ingredients for Calabaza: Corn on the cob (4) Zuchinni or squash (5 depending on size) Onion (1 large or 2 medium) Fresh Garlic Poblano pepper (1 large) Olive Oil fresh lime juice 1 can of crushed tomatoes Cumin Chili Powder Cilantro Salt/Pepper Ingredients for Fresh Herb Mexican Rice 1 cup of rice 2 cups of veggie stock 1/4 cup of crushed tomatoes 1/2 cup minced onion 2 tablespoons minced garlic 1 cup fresh cilantro 1 tspoon of fresh oregano, or rosemary salt/pepper Cumin I posted this photo on facebook and received some messages wanting the recipe. Calabaza is one of my favorite dishes, traditionally it's cooked with chicken on the bone, however it's just as delicious without it and you don't miss the chicken at all, in fact I serve this dish with avocado, so it's a very satissfying meal even for meat lovers alike. I recommend toasting all of the spices, it just adds a nuttiness and brings out the true flavor of the spice - even black pepper, I enjoy toasting fresh ground black pepper and not just "throwing it into a dish". I am not a vegetarian, but I do eat vegetarian meals at least 4 days during the week and promote healthy living. Calabaza: First off, this recipe of Calabaza is all vegetarian, I start off my choosing vegetables: Calabaza (which is zuchinni), I also use corn on the cob, yellow squash, yellow onion, poblano pepper and garlic, and place all the veggies (minus the corn) on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon of cumin, and roast in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes. While the veggies are roasting, I clean the corn, and cut it from the cob, and toss it in olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons of chili powder, and about 4 cloves of fresh minced garlic, and cook it in a heated pan until just tender, then add the roasted veggies and pour in a can of crushed tomatoes, then simmer for 10 minutes until tender with adding the cilanto, last for garnish Herb Rice: heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan, add onion, garlic and rice - cook until light brown. Next, add cumin, oregano and crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper. Last, add the cilantro bring to a boil, cover and lower heat then cook for 14 minutes. Serve entire meal with fresh avocado slices and corn tortillas! YUM :) I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Arugula Salad topped Pizza

Friday evenings are very low key in our home - I made a pizza topped with arugula salad/olive oil/parm cheese

I had some pre-made dough and left over tomato sauce from a batch of pasta, so I pretty much threw all of these ingredients together to make a healthy looking delicious meal. You can't go wrong with pizza on a Friday night, netflix a movie and you have a perfect evening :)

roll out dough
top with sauce
pile on the cheese - bake

toss greens with olive oil, salt, pepper and parm cheese and top on pizza, serve.

Tomato Sauce for pasta

Simple and delicious!

As much as I love cooking Mexican foods, I always felt that I should have been a full-blooded Italian because of my love for homemade sauces. I have created my very own homemade red sauce with an immense amount of garlic, however I love trying new and different recipes, especially those of authenticity. When I came across this recipe, my jaw dropped because I too love the delicate creaminess of tomatoes and butter combined and cooked down...add fresh farm onion and you are in heaven. Please read this recipe and follow it to the tee! I prepared a beef ragu on the side for my son and hubby using grass-fed beef, garlic, and the reserved onion left from the sauce (too delish to just throw away), salt and pepper...I topped the pasta with the ragu then the sauce. I ate the sauce and pasta just as is and it was the most delicious combination of flavors. This is a very silky sauce, enjoy!


Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter Recipe

recipe adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

I heavily salted the boiling pasta water (as I usually do), so I didn’t add any additional salt to the sauce. Taste and adjust with more salt if needed.

One 28-ounce can whole Itallian San Marzano tomatoes roughly chopped with their juices
5 tablespoons salted butter
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and halved

Heat a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Add all of the ingredients and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low to keep a steady simmer. Cook for 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally. Discard the onion (however I reserved it, chopped it and put it in the beef ragu I made on the side). Serve over cooked pasta.

Mashed Potato Pie

One of my favorite things to prepare is a Mashed Potato Pie. You can prepare such a pie with any and every ingredient that comes to mind, however my recipe is my mother's old recipe kicked up and her recipe is a spin off the traditional shepards pie, also called cottage pie. The traditional shepards pie used cubed lamb and was eaten and prepared by peasants in the 17th century.

My mother used to use all canned veggies and I use fresh organic veggies plus add a couple things here and there like garlic, cream and truffle salt. This recipe takes 20 min to cook however tastes as if it's been cooking all day long - it's more of a stew that eats like a meal, very hearty and comforting. I love this dish and hope you will too :)

Mashed Potato Pie

I use red potatoes (unpeeled) boiled in salted water
when potatoes are fork tender, smash potatoes with butter and cream. I add fresh ground black pepper and truffle salt. Set aside.

Filling: heat olive oil in skillet - add 1 whole chopped onion, 4 carrots diced and 3 cloves of minced garlic, add 1 diced poblano pepper, season. Add ground sirloin (I used natural grass-fed beef from the local farmer's market) crumble into hot skillet and add worcestershire sauce (about 4 dashes) and fresh rosemary (about a teaspoon) add 4 chopped tomatoes, 1 cup of fresh chopped spinach and 2 cups of fresh or frozen corn. Add 2 teaspoons of flour and cook, then a tablespoon of tomato paste and 1/4 cup of water and simmer. Once the filling is done cooking, add heavy cream and stir.

Place filling at the bottom of a baking dish, and top with mashed potatoes - add olive oil and bake until brown and bubbly in a 350 degree oven. I hope you enjoy as much as my family and I.